I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to hunting game calls. More particularly, this invention relates to wild turkey game calls adapted to make a variety of game-attracting sounds through the use of both friction and air.
II. Description of the Prior Art
All turkey calls today can be placed in one of two basic categories of operation: friction operated or air operated. Many patents have been granted for turkey calls that have at the essential core of their design one or the other of these two forms of operation, some examples of which are as follows:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,319 U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,531 U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,521 U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,159 U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,526 U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,325 U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,368 U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,400 U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,575 U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,920 U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,822 ______________________________________
One turkey call incorporates more than one variation of a single category in one call assembly, and that is the friction turkey call disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3 4,941,858 issued Jul. 17, 1990 to Mark C. Adams. Turkey calls which offer the combination of friction and air operation in one call assembly are absent in the art. Two examples of a friction and air combination were found for calling or attracting deer and are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,008, to Hughes and U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,664 to Shockly. However, it is not possible to produce any sounds the turkey makes with these deer calls.
The prior art reflects the popularity of both friction and air operated turkey calls, and if one wishes to have all the advantages of both at hand, he is forced to purchase and carry at least one of each type to the field. Therefore, it has become a common problem for the more skilled at turkey calling to be over burdened with singular type calling devices of both forms when in the field.
Also, there exists an important turkey sound that has never been effectively reproduced by any turkey call until the present invention. That sound is described by scientists as the "Pulmonic Puff " and by hunters as simply "drumming". A close phonetic approximation of the sound would be " . . . v-oo-r-r-r-r-o-o-m-mi . . . " The sound typically is one and one half seconds in duration. It is impossible to coin a combination of letters that will imitate this sound precisely. To those less phonetically adept, the sound might resemble the sound of an engine of a distant motor vehicle being revved up. Also, it could be compared closely to the sound a ruffed grouse makes as it beats its wings together rapidly while sitting on a hollow log.
The pulmonic sound is made by the gobbler expelling air from its lungs while at the same time exercising a rapid series of muscular tremors that impart a low frequency vibration to what would otherwise be an uninterrupted tone starting very low and ending a few decibels higher. In fact, the call is so low in frequency that it cannot be recorded without special recording equipment.
This "Pulmonic Puff" sound made by the wild turkey gobbler represents the last important call of the turkey to be reproduced today. It has remained so for as long as history can record because there was no means known that could reproduce it. The importance of the call is understood by all experienced turkey hunters. It is the chief sound produced by the turkey gobbler during the mating season. He makes this sound day and night. It is, for him, the safest sound he can make in order to attract hen turkeys to his location, and to ward off rivals.
Turkeys hear low frequency sounds much farther than humans and many animal predators. Turkeys switch from gobbling to the "Pulmonic Puff" soon after leaving the safety of the roost in the morning and continue to use this call throughout the day. The importance of this call to the hunter is twofold. First, from a personal safety standpoint, gobblers can hear this call much farther than hunters, unlike the other calls the turkey makes. Secondly, the gobbler will approach the hunter ill order to defend its territory from what he perceives as a rival. When lie has hens with him he most often will ignore a call that duplicates a hen, he will not tolerate the presence of a rival in his territory. The hunter could use the gobble call to accomplish this result, but he would be attracting hunters from great distances to his position and this could have dangerous consequences for him. The distance a hunter can hear the "Pulmonic Puff " is less than one hundred yards, while a turkey can hear it from as far away as an eighth of a mile. For producing the "Pulmonic Puff", the most important purpose of this multifunction call, there exists no known prior art.
This invention, like other friction operated calls (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,968 issued on Mar. 3, 1953, to Herter and U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,943 issued on Feb. 20, 1973 to Orzetti), can be used to call other game such as the squirrel. With practice, the bark and squeal of the squirrel can be made by striking and rubbing a peg against a friction surface.